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Getting Setup with Android

3. Get the Android Eclipse Plugin

To get setup for Android development, we are going to open the help menu and select “Install New Software”.  On this screen click Add.  In the window that pops up put in a name for your reference (I just used “Android SDK”) and the URL https://dl-ssl.google.com/android/eclipse/

Screenshot-Install Software

When you click OK there should be an entry for “Developer Tools” in the list.  Click the checkbox next to this and click on Next.  You will see a screen listing what is going to be installed (Android DDMS and Android Development Tools).  Click Next again, read the license agreement.  If you accept the agreement and click finish then you should see the software install into your Eclipse environment.  Finally, you should get a message recommending that you restart Eclipse.  Tell it to restart.

After you restart click on the Window menu and select Preferences (Eclipse Menu and Preferences if you’re on a Mac).  Click on Android and you will probably get a message complaining that Eclipse doesn’t know where the SDK is located.  Click on browse next to SDK Location and browse to the folder where you saved the SDK earlier.  Click Apply and you should see Android and the Version of the SDK you selected under Target Name.  Click OK.

Now the final step in setting up your Plugin is making a Virtual Device.  Under the Window Menu you should see Android SDK and AVD Manager.  This is a shortcut to the same Android SDK Manager we accessed earlier by running the Android executable in the SDK folder.  Click on Virtual Devices and Click on the New button on the right.  Give this whatever name you like (I called mine DebugAVD since that is how I will be using it) and select your SDK from the Target drop down.  Click on Create AVD and you should get a confirmation message.  Your AVD should now be listed on this screen.

That’s it, you’re ready to go.  Go to File, New, Project and you will see an Android folder.  Expand the folder, click on Android Project.  Fill out the form here, click finished, and you’ll be ready to program.

Screenshot-New Android Project

As for what you can program here, we’ll have some ideas in future posts.

{ 9 } Comments

  1. nadia | December 14, 2009 at 10:30 pm | Permalink

    i love all your great tips, tricks and tutorials, thanks for such excellent information!

  2. Toufik HAMDANI | December 18, 2009 at 9:18 am | Permalink

    thank you for this tutorial. I’ll try it on ubuntu 9.04 at home.

  3. Rama | April 22, 2010 at 2:48 pm | Permalink

    Thank you very much for detailed steps. These are very helpful for beginners like me.

  4. connectware | May 21, 2010 at 11:45 am | Permalink

    what is the name of SDK file excaxtly that im suppose to path to?

  5. Rich Schupbach | July 28, 2010 at 1:25 pm | Permalink

    Any idea why my “Android SDK and AVD Manager” does not include “Settings” or “About” in the list? I’m using Eclipse 3.5.2.

    I would love to follow your advice, but without the “Settings”, I cannot select the “force https…” that you refer to.

  6. Tayyab Shabab | October 12, 2010 at 5:09 am | Permalink

    Thanks for all this information. I was trying to run Android but could not write its code using Eclipse. But after reading all this I am able to write Android code. Thanks

  7. m.k | December 9, 2010 at 11:24 am | Permalink

    thnk boss
    i am tooo just started learning
    thnx fr sharing

  8. Acharabelle | January 17, 2011 at 11:27 pm | Permalink

    I went through the steps and went to install the SDK, but it gave me the error:

    Done. Nothing was installed.
    Failed to create directory C:\Program Files\android-sdk-windows\temp

    I’m running Windows 2007 64-bit. I keep getting stuck at this same point. Does anyone have any suggestions?

    Thanks!
    acharabelle@gmail.com

  9. Sheridan | November 8, 2011 at 10:09 pm | Permalink

    If you got a failed to create directory error in Windows 7 you might try running the installer as administrator. This might just be a permissions issue.

{ 3 } Trackbacks

  1. [...] writing your first Android programs.  First let’s go ahead and open Eclipse, where you have already setup Android, and create a new Android Project.  Go to File -> New -> Project.  Select Android Project [...]

  2. [...] writing your first Android programs.  First let’s go ahead and open Eclipse, where you have already setup Android, and create a new Android Project.  Go to File -> New -> Project.  Select Android Project [...]

  3. [...] Create a new Android Project (2.1+) in Eclipse (If you’re not using Eclipse: Getting Setup with Android.) [...]

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